Travel News: September 7, 2017

The relationship between the U.S. and Russia isn’t getting any better.

The two countries are introducing de facto travel restrictions for each other’s citizens, a move Bloomberg described as “choking off the friendliest, most human channel of communication between” the two countries.

“It’s the biggest step back into the Cold War era that the two governments have taken yet,” wrote Leonid Bershidsky, a Bloomberg View columnist.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises will hold a naming sweepstakes in September for its new ship due in 2020.

Three of the contestants will get suites on the ship’s inaugural cruise.

The contest will run from Sept. 5 through 29. Qualifying submissions must be in English, begin with “Seven Seas,” and end with a word ending in “er” or “or.” Three winners will be randomly selected and announced by Nov. 15.

In July roughly 2,000 Venetians protested against tourism ruining their city, the knock-on effects of which include rising rent and pollution from cruise ships. Locals in the iconic waterborne city are leaving at a rate of 1,000 people per year, according to Carlo Beltrame, temporary spokesperson for the Gruppo 25 Aprile, the organisation behind the protest. He deemed the depopulation a “social tragedy,” which also risks turning the city into “Disneyland.”

Beltrame said that locals are most concerned with property prices and rising rent, while the government was focused on tackling antisocial behavior from tourists. Recent measures put in place to tackle tourist overcrowding include a ban on new tourist accommodation in the city center and people counters at popular sites.

Tourist numbers in Italy as a whole have been steadily rising in recent years according to the WTTC, up 3.2 percent year on year in 2016 to 52.4 million. “We wouldn’t damage tourism, we would only control it,” Beltrame said.

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By: Matt Long

Matt has a true passion for travel. As someone who has a bad case of the travel bug, Matt travels the world in order to share tips on where to go, what to see and how to experience the best the world has to offer.
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